Ultimate Smartphone Tech, Form and Design: The GALAXY Note 3 Unpacked

The Samsung GALAXY Note 3 is the most powerful smartphone on the market today, packed with features from the lightning fast hardware to software apps that have been designed to streamline your life.

Here we take a look at 10 key points from the GALAXY Note 3’s spec sheet and show why it represents the ultimate in smartphone tech.

Quad-Core Processor

The GALAXY Note 3 is one of the fastest smartphones on the market thanks to its blazingly fast 2.3 GHz Quad-Core processor. Samsung has also thrown in 3 GB of RAM which helps to speed things up and gives apps loads more room to manoeuvre.

Having the extra memory and the multi-core processor makes proper multitasking more practical and the Note 3 can comfortably support two apps running at full speed on a split screen in Multi Window.

Jelly Bean is faster and more efficient at multitasking and offers new features like support for low-energy Bluetooth Smart add-on devices and more useful notifications of things like incoming messages or news headlines.

On top of Android 4.3’s foundations, Samsung has its own user interface in the shape of TouchWiz - a combination of UI enhancements and tweaks to the OS that both make Android easier to use but also get the best out of the Note 3’s unique hardware.

Full HD Super AMOLED screen

The GALAXY Note 3’s 5.7 inch Full HD Super AMOLED display has all the room you need to use the web comfortably, watch HD movies and play the latest high resolution games.

The Full HD Super AMOLED display gives excellent contrast with deep 'true' black rather than the dark grey you get with LCD displays.

Samsung's unique twist on the AMOLED display embeds the touch-sensitive layer into the screen itself rather than using an extra layer on top. As well as reducing the thickness of the screen, this helps reduce the reflectivity of the display and improves viewing in bright sunlight.

Front & Rear Camera

At 13 megapixels, the rear camera of the GALAXY Note 3 is capable of capturing amazingly high quality images and video.

You don't even have to be a professional snapper to get good results as the Note 3's camera app has numerous modes designed to enhance your pics.

Beauty Face will flatter your friends by digitally 'cleaning up' their portrait while Best Face take a number of rapid pictures and then lets you digitally combine the shots to show everyone in their best light.

There are modes for every occasion from the High Dynamic Range 'Rich Tone' to the quirky 'Golf' which makes taking a photo of a golfer's swing as easy as point and shoot.

The video function can capture 1080p Full HD clips at 60 frames per second and if you are willing to drop to 30 fps it can grab 4K-resolution Ultra High Definition movies.

Most smartphones make do with a low-resolution camera around the front that allows for grainy video chat or substandard selfies. The Note 3, on the other hand, sports a 2 megapixel camera that will make your Skype chats crisp and your selfies less embarrassing.

S Pen

The GALAXY Note 3's most unique feature is the S Pen. Far from being a mere finger substitute, the S Pen offers precision tapping, drawing and writing on the Note 3's generous screen but is also the key to a number of useful features.

Air Command is a floating menu that appears whenever you remove the S Pen from the base of the Note 3 or if you hover the S Pen over the screen while clicking the button on the side.

This semi-circular menu is a quick way to call up S Pen-friendly features like the screen annotating app Screen Write and the amazing Pen Window, which lets you draw a box on the screen that will become a multitasking web browser, calculator or other app.

The S Pen itself is now shaped to fit back inside the Note 3's case whichever way up you hold it. Plus, it is also difficult to lose as the Note 3 will sound an alarm if it is taken more than a few feet away from the S Pen.

Google Services

One of the selling points of Android, for some, is the close integration with Google’s online services.

The GALAXY Note 3 does not disappoint here and has full support for Google Mail, Google Drive and of course the Google search engine.

The Note 3 can download hundreds of thousands of compatible apps from the Google Play store, display books in Google Play Books and video chat via Google Hangouts.

Multitasking

The 2.3GHz Quad-Core processor and 3GB RAM give the Note 3 the power it needs to multitask in a way that you probably associate more with a desktop PC than a smartphone.

Apps can be run in split-screen Multi Window mode, with one taking up each half of the Super AMOLED display . Which means that you can watch a film on one half of the screen, while tweeting about it in the other half or check your email while surfing the web all without having to swap between apps.

The S Pen is the key to another multitasking trick - Pen Window. Just draw a box on screen with the S Pen and the Note 3 will let you turn it into a floating windows holding a web browser, calculator, notepad or one of a selection of other apps.

Samsung KNOX

Storing sensitive or private data on a smartphone may seem a risky prospect given how easy it is for a thief to run off with your favourite gadget.

KNOX is Samsung's solution - a suite of security enhancements that can protect your data and make the GALAXY Note 3 the ideal companion for business.

KNOX will let you create a separate isolated and secure environment within the Note 3 that has its own home screen and widgets. Apps and data within that environment are completely separate from the rest of the phone and secured with military-grade 256-bit AES encryption.

Connectivity

No smartphone is an island and the GALAXY Note 3 has more ways to hook up than a Velcro factory.

The Note 3 is one of the first phones to use the new micro USB 3.0 connector. This is backwards compatible with the older micro USB standard but by plugging in the included USB 3.0 cable you can get blindingly fast data transfer speeds as well as more rapid charging.

On the wireless side of things the Note 3 will support high-speed 4G LTE networks and, of course, it is more than happy to use 3G for mobile web and email in those moments where LTE isn’t available. It also supports the latest 802.11ac Wi-Fi networking standard for nippy web browsing via a compatible Wi-Fi hotspot.

Devices can be paired with the Note 3 using Bluetooth 4.0 and the phone will output to an external display via DLNA, MHL and Samsung's own Samsung Link technology.

Sensors

Hidden inside the GALAXY Note 3’s slim case is an array of sensors that apps can tap into and some of which the Note 3 uses to ensure a smoother user experience.

The GPS receiver and magnetometer (compass) will help you to navigate using Google Maps, providing useful data about your direction of travel for driving or walking directions.

A light sensor will help adjust the display brightness to conserve power or boost readability in bright sunlight.

A barometer, thermometer and hygrometer (humidity sensor) can accurately gauge the local environment. This data can be used to help generate a weather report, using great social apps like WeatherSignal.